Silo door and silo



June 29, 1943'. z. w. CRAINE SILO DOOR AND SILO Filed Aug. 5, 1940IIIIII'IIIII'II INVENTOR Z02 M (Zen/ 5 ATTORNEY Patented June 29, 1943UNETED STATES FATENT OFFICE SILO noon AND srLo Zur W. Craine, Norwich,N. Y.

Application August 8, 1940, Serial No. 350,877

(01. til-1.4)

4 Claims.

The invention relates to a silo of either the stove or block Wallconstruction and relates particularly to a door construction for a silo.A silo is usually circular and has an opening or doorway in the wallthereof extending from the bottom, or a point near the bottom, to thetop. A series of doors are mounted in this doorway, one above the other,and one door may be opened at any point, or a series of doors may beopened. Since the doors open inwardly, it is understood that no door canbe opened which is obstructed by ensilage within the silo.

It is an object of the invention to build a new and novel doorconstruction.

Another object of the invention is to construct a door locking meanswhich can be used as a ladder rung.

Another object is to construct a combination door hinge and door lockingand clamping mechanism which can also serve as a ladder rung and inwhich neither mechanism interferes with the operation of the other.

A further object is to construct a door frame which is particularlysuited for the door hinging and door clamping and locking means.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a silo wallconstruction which is gasketed to form a tight and leakproof sealbetween the joints thereof.

Other objects of the invention will be more apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,illustrating two embodiments of the door frame construction, in which:

Figure l is a front perspective view of a portion of a silo having wallsbuilt up of blocks and showing the door and door frame in which thelatter is an integral four-sided construction. This view also showsdetails of the wall block with a side groove for a vertical gasket orcushion and sealing means. A gasket sealing means, used between the endsof the blocks, is also shown.

Figure 2 is a cross-section, taken on line 2--2 of Figure 1, through aportion of the silo wall with the door seated in the door opening, shownin solid lines, and swung completely into the silo and entirely clear ofthe doorway shown in dot and dash lines.

The various constructions of the invention, including the frame means,the door hinge means, the door locking means and the gasket means, aresuitable for any style of silo. The silo I0, particularly illustrated inFigure 1, has walls built of blocks H of tile, vitrified. clay, or

. la in the frame.

other suitable material, to form a circular silo. A silo, when filledwith ensilage, subject to considerable pressure and forthis reason tierods 12 pass around the outside of the wall of the silo to reenforce thesame and prevent it from bursting under the internal pressure. At theupper levels of the silo, simple tie rods, which pass around the walland are spaced between the doors, are suiiicient. At the bottom of thesilo, however, where the pressure is considerably greater than it is atthe top and the mid-section, a greater number of tie rods are used whichare located between the simple tie rods, and hence if simple rods wereused here around the entire silo, they would normally cross in front ofthe door opening. In order to avoid this, a tie rod loop i3 is utilizedat the doorway.

In building a silo having a wall built of blocks, the blocks H are laidso as to form a vertical doorway iii in the wall extending from thebottom, or near the bottom, to the top thereof. A door frame means ordoor frame. ii is inserted in the doorway which, in the form illustratedparticularly in Figure l, is an integral four-sided frame of cast metal.The frame has a door seat 8 which extends around all four sides and ispreferably recessed, so that when a door it is clamped therein, the dooris even with the inner edge of the frame and with the inner face of thesilo, wall. Such a recessed door frame is not essential, but it is adistinct advantagein order to prevent air pockets. The sides of the doorframe, which, form the top and bottom of a par together in any suitablefashion, such as by bolts 25 passing through the adjacent flanges.Preferably a gasket 26 is used between the door frames to cushion theframes and provide a tight seal therebetween. Also a gasket groove ayextend along each vertical side of the i'ranie to receive. a cushion andgasket means 32.

Means are provided to secure each door it against its particular frame1?, which means preferably clamps the door against the door seat Thedoor securing meansincludes lug means, carried either by the door meansor by the frame means, and a cooperating pivoted looking or clampingmeans carried by the other of the door means or frame means. The lugmeans particularly shown includes a pair of spaced lugs 21. preferablycarried by the frame or frame means, one lug being mounted on eachvertical side of the frame or frame means. The lugs are positioned in ahorizontal central region of the doorway in the frame, but the betterlocation is upon the horizontal central axis thereof. The locking meansincludes a pivoted locking hook or latch 28 for each lug which ispreferably carried by the door. It is desirable to provide a slightangularity to the lug engaging portion of each hook or latch so as toclamp as well as secure the door against the door frame. The lockinglatch i pivotally mounted upon the door by pivot bearings 29.

In the more desirable construction, the pivoted locking means assumes ahorizontal position spaced from the door when in looking engagement withthe lug means, in order to form a ladder rung. The better way toaccomplish this is to construct the pivoted locking means of a singlebar 3 I, the ends of which are pivotally mounted in the supports orbearings 29. tal bar, joining the two hook or latches 28, pivotsrelatively close to the door in unlatched position, so that the door mayswing into the silo without being obstructed by the bar. In lookingposition, the pivoted bar lies horizontally and spaced from the door sothat it serves a double purpose, first, as a ladder rung so that a.series of vertically poitioned doors provide a ladder extending to thetop of the silo, and, secondly, enables a person to stand thereon andthereby obtain firm clamping of the locking hooks upon the lugs. Eitherthe edge of the door, the door seat [8 on the frame, or both, may carrya gasket 30 to provide a tight joint between the door and door frame.The space between the door frame and the edge of the door may begasketed or caulked.

The door It may be hingedly secured to the door frame in any suitablemanner, so long as the hinged means utilized does not interfere with thedoor locking means described. Preferably the hinge means is on theexterior of the silo, or the exterior side of the door frame I1, so thatthe metal thereof does not come into contact with the ensilage. It isdesirable also that the door hinge be so constructed that the door canbe swung within the silo completely out of the way of the door opening.Such a hinge means also must not interfere with the operation of thedoor locking and clamping means.

The door I9 is hinged upon a pair of spaced hinge bearings 33 in which ahinge means 34 is pivotally mounted in any suitable fashion. The hingemeans illustrated has one end 36 bent downwardly which is received inthe hinge hearing. This hinge means extends outwardly from its hingebearing a sufficient distance so that when the door is swung within thesilo, the hinge means passes around the inside corner of the silo wall,as shown in Figure 1 in dot and dash lines. The hinge means then bendsand extends towards a vertically extending center portion of the doorand is pivotally secured to the door by a vertical hinge bearing 35. Apair of such spaced hinge means may be used, however in the constructionparticularly illustrated, the pair of hinge means are the end portionsof a single bar. The central portion of the bar extends vertically alongor adjacent to the door It and is pivotally The horizonsecured by thespaced hinge bearings at spaced points in a vertical central portion ofthe door. The drawing shows the hinge bearings 35 located beyond thevertical central axis of the door so that the door may swing well pastthe door opening, as shown in dot and dash lines in Figure 2, and leavesa clear doorway into the silo unobstructed by any part of the door.

With the construction of hinge described, the horizontal clamping bar 3|may be pivoted up relatively close to the door l9, thereby unlatchingthe door, and so that the door may be swung either on the vertical doorhinge bearings 35 or the fram hinge bearings 33, or both, without theclamping bar striking the door frame l1 and obstructing the doormovement. The door is then swung upon its hinges or hinge means 34 sothat the door may lie near the inside silo wall completely away from thedoor opening. The hinge means, as previously described, clears theinside corner of the silo wall and the door ha rotated throughapproximately relatively to the hinge mean from its relative positionwhen clamped in the door opening.

The hinge lug or bearing 33 may extend from the spaced projection 20 forretaining the tie rod l2 and the tie rod loop 13 in position upon eachside of the frame ll. With this construction, one part gives increasedstrength to the other.

In the block construction of silo wall, a leakproof wall is obtained byinserting a gasket 59 between the ends of each block H when constructingthe wall. The vertical edges of the block are also made leakproof byproviding a longitudinally extending groove 60 in each edge of eachblock and into this groove extends a continuous gasket 32. Each gasketnot only aids in retaining adjacent blocks in relative position, but issqueezed in its respective groove and thereby serves as a cushion and aseal between the vertical joints. These joints may be caulked to closethe edges between the blocks. In so gasketing all edges of the blocks, aleakproof silo wall is obtained.

This invention is presented to fill a need for improvements in a silodoor and silo. It is understood that various modifications in structure,as well as changes in mode of operation, assembly, and manner of use,may and often do occur to those skilled in the art, especially afterbenefiting from the teachings of an invention. Hence, it will beunderstood that this disclosure is illustrative of preferred means ofembodying the invention in useful form by explaining the construction,operation and advantages thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A silo door construction comprising a foursided frame adapted to beinserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support a tie barloop, a pair of the lugs providing hinge bearings,

a door fitted to the frame, hinge means secured to the door and in thehinge bearings to swing the door, a locking lug carried upon twoopposite sides of the frame, and a horizontal lock bar pivotally securedto the door and engaging the locking lugs to lock and clamp the dooragainst the frame, the lock bar being spaced from the door and servingas a ladder rung when the door is closed and permitting a person tostand thereon to tightly lock the door.

2. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adaptedto be inserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support atie bar loop, a pair of the lugs having holes to provide hinge bearingsfor a door hinge, a

locking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted tobe engaged by a looking means to lock and clamp a door against theframe, and means at the horizontal edges to secure an adjacent doorframe thereto.

3. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adaptedto be inserted in a silo wall, lugs adjacent each corner to support atie bar loop, lateral inwardly directed extensions carried by an upperand a lower lug and providing hinge bearings for a door hinge, a lockinglug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted to beengaged by a looking means to lock and clamp a door against the frame,and means at the horizontal edges to secure an adjacent frame thereto.

4. A silo door frame construction comprising a four-sided frame adaptedto be inserted in a silo wall, a pair of flanges at each horizontal edgeand one flange of each pair being adjacent each vertical edge of theframe to secure adjacent frames together, lugs adjacent each corner tosupport a tie bar and spaced inwardly from the aforesaid flanges toprovide means to re tain a tie bar in position, an upper and a lower lugupon one vertical side providing hinge bearings for a door hinge, alocking lug carried upon two opposite sides of the frame and adapted tobe engaged by a locking means to lock and clamp the door against theframe.

ZUR W. CRAINE.

